Originally posted by martha I got mostly Liberal Party, but it's hard to have an opinion about a distant country's internal policies.

and yet, so many seem to think they know exactly what the US should do no matter what the issue and feel perfectly free to broadly criticize everything about a culture -- not to mention the monocausal explanations they come up with in order to explain a complex foreign policy -- they only understand from the movies and perhaps a trip to Manhattan.

so it's good to see us resisting the urge to do the same to other countries.

__________________"Mediocrity is never so dangerous as when it is dressed up as sincerity." - Søren Kierkegaard

Ian McCulloch the U2 fan:
"Who buys U2 records anyway? It's just music for plumbers and bricklayers. Bono, what a slob. You'd think with all that climbing about he does, he'd look real fit and that. But he's real fat, y'know. Reminds me of a soddin' mountain goat."
"And as for Bono, he needs a colostomy bag for his mouth."

and yet, so many seem to think they know exactly what the US should do no matter what the issue and feel perfectly free to broadly criticize everything about a culture -- not to mention the monocausal explanations they come up with in order to explain a complex foreign policy -- they only understand from the movies and perhaps a trip to Manhattan.

so it's good to see us resisting the urge to do the same to other countries.

It would be fair to say though that US culture and the US in general is much more dominating on the world stage than Norway will likely ever be. Any foreign policy the US has is likely to affect the whole world, Norways...not so much...The US' foreign policy is also much more heavily presented in the world media...when was the last time you heard of Norway's foreign policy?

I find it, kinda the rest of the world's right to criticise the US's foreign policy since it is the only superpower.....now that is not to mean as you say to completely bash the culture or country...it should be criticisied intelligently as anything should be....but really do you think the current administrations foreign policy is at all in anyway complex?

btw if I have missed the mark with your post at all and there was sarcasm present or not or I just missed completely the meaning of it...I apologise in advance, as I am truthfully slightly tipsy!

Originally posted by Irvine511
and yet, so many seem to think they know exactly what the US should do no matter what the issue and feel perfectly free to broadly criticize everything about a culture -- not to mention the monocausal explanations they come up with in order to explain a complex foreign policy -- they only understand from the movies and perhaps a trip to Manhattan.

so it's good to see us resisting the urge to do the same to other countries.

I'm not sure your point is entirely fair, given that a person living in Toronto has a lot more in common with someone in New York (and vice versa) than someone in New York has in common with someone in rural Alabama or than someone in Toronto has with someone living in rural Alberta. Not to mention that I would hazard a guess that far fewer Americans know anything at all tangible about Canadian politics whereas Canadians are probably as educated about your elections and form of government as a good chunk of your own citizens are. Americans don't realize how pervasive their culture and politics are outside of their own borders.